"Ginny! Hermione, Ron, and Harry are in charge. Behave yourself, now. I'll be staying at Bill's house for the week," Mrs Weasley called up the stairs.
"Okay, Mum, don't worry," Ginny bellowed from her room.
As soon as she knew Mrs Weasley was gone, Hermione burst into the room with a happy look on her face.
"I have an idea—why don't we all camp out in Ron and Harry's room?" she suggested. Ginny was more than happy to have an excuse to share a room with Harry, so she and Hermione gathered up quilts and pillows and made their way to the boys' room. There they found four beds spread out across the floor, two single beds on each side of the room.
Ron and Harry smiled at the girls and sat down on the beanbag chairs that lay scattered over the beds.
"Well, choose a bed," Harry laughed.
Hermione walked over to the bed nearest the wall and lay down. Ginny followed her over and heaped her things on the bed next to Hermione.
"Whoa, Ginny, that's my bed," Ron said.
"Fine—where am I meant to sleep, then?" Ginny snapped at her brother.
"Next to Harry," Ron said simply before climbing into the single bed next to Hermione's.
Ginny raised her eyebrows at her brother and her best friend and hesitantly moved her things to the empty bed next to Harry's.
Soon Harry climbed into his bed, and the four of them sat around talking for a while. Fortunately, the subject of the diary had been dropped.
"So, shall we play Truth, Dare, Kiss, or Promise?" Harry asked after a while.
"Yeah, let's! That would be fun!" Ron and Ginny said at the same time.
Harry nodded and pointed to Ron to indicate that he should go first.
"Okay, Ginny—truth, dare, kiss, or promise?" Ron asked.
Ginny look thoughtful for a moment and then said, "Dare."
Ron tapped a finger on his jaw for a moment. When he'd thought of a decent dare, he said, "Ginny, I dare you to kiss someone in this room—who isn't related to you." He smiled cheekily.
"That's not fair. I'm not exactly going to kiss Hermione, now, am I?" Ginny pouted.
"Well, Harry, it looks like she picked you." Ron gave his friend the thumbs-up.
Ginny looked over and stared at Harry for a few moments before signalling to him to leave the room with her. They walked out, and after a few minutes Ron and Hermione began to play again. It was Hermione's turn.
"Okay. Ron, it's your turn. Truth, dare, kiss, or promise?" Hermione asked.
"Kiss!" Ron exclaimed unhesitatingly.
"Okay, then I dare you to kiss Harry!" Hermione shouted the last two words so that Harry could hear her.
Harry kicked the door open, a look of horror on his face—along with Ginny's lipstick.
"No way!" Harry and Ron both shouted.
Ginny and Hermione looked at each other before staring daggers at the boys. The boys pleaded for all they were worth, but still the girls shook their heads. The boys looked at each other resignedly and popped sweets into their mouths.
They were Fainting Fancies, part of Fred and George's bestselling Skiving Snackboxes.
When they fell to the floor, Hermione and Ginny at first just stared at them, appalled. Then Hermione got a suspicious look on her face. She got out of bed and went over to the two unconscious boys and pulled the sweets out of their hands. She examined them closely and then turned a disgusted face to Ginny.
"Fainting Fancies," she said. "The other halves ought to be around here somewhere." Ginny helped her look, and in moments they found the purple halves of the two-sided sweets under Harry and Ron's pillows. Glowering, Hermione advanced upon Ron and Ginny made her way to Harry's side; none too gently they popped the purple halves into the boys' mouths. Almost immediately they sat up, smirking sheepishly at the two girls towering over them.
"Nice try. You still have to complete your dare," Ginny reminded Ron.
"Please? Any other dare," Ron begged.
Hermione and Ginny looked at each other and snickered. "No!" they shouted.
Ron looked crestfallen and Harry looked like he was going to puke. He would have kissed two Weasleys in the same day—ewww! Ron shrugged his shoulders and stood up, then told Harry to follow him.
"Eww, no way, Ron. Just forfeit it, for Merlin's sake!" Harry told his best friend.
"Harry, just come on, please," Ron begged.
Harry, looking rather as if he might cry, stood up and followed Ron out onto the landing. Hermione smirked at Ginny and silently crept over to the door. She took her wand out of her sleeve and pointed it at the door, casting a silent spell. A bubble emerged from the end of Hermione's wand, and inside the bubble were a miniature Ron and Harry. Much to the girls' dismay, they were doing nothing more interesting than talking.
When they came back in a few minutes later, they didn't look at each other but resumed their seats on their beds.
"You happy now?" asked Ron.
"No, because you didn't kiss," Hermione said with a knowing look.
"What? Yes we did, didn't we, Harry?" Ron said indignantly.
Harry nodded vigourously—until Hermione replayed the bubble charm.
"Please," the boys begged. "Hermione—Ginny—please?"
Hermione and Ginny looked at each other. "Conference in the hallway!" Hermione anounced, and she and Ginny walked into the hallway to decide privately whether they should let the boys off the hook on this dare.
Whilst they were out of the room, the boys didn't look at each other once, but you could almost see the gears in their heads spinning, trying to think of a way out of their dilemma.
When the girls re-entered, they looked at the boys and, rolling their eyes a bit, they nodded. The boys jumped off their beds and did a victory dance in the centre of the floor, grabbing on to each other's arms and jumping round in circles.
Abruptly they realised how gay they looked and stopped. They both returned to their beds so the game could carry on.
